What is the speed limit when towing?

A car, car derived van or motor caravan towing one trailer is limited to 50 mph on a single carriageway and 60 mph on a dual carriageway or motorway. Highway Code rule 124, checked in 2025, publishes that table and cites the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, Schedule 6. A signed lower limit always wins. Built-up roads stay at 30 mph in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and 20 mph on restricted roads in Wales, unless signs show another figure.

The 70 mph car motorway limit does not survive the hitch. Neither does the 70 mph dual carriageway car limit. Those become 60 mph. The 60 mph single carriageway car limit becomes 50 mph. People who tow at 70 mph on a quiet motorway are not in a grey area. They are 10 mph over the national towing maximum before any camera threshold is discussed.

No, not on a motorway with three or more lanes. Highway Code rule 98 says you must not drive in the right-hand lane on motorways with three or more lanes, and points to rule 265. The law cited is the Motorways Traffic (England and Wales) Regulations 1982, regulation 12. Scotland has its own motorway regulations. The 60 mph towing maximum is a separate rule from the lane rule. You can be in the wrong lane at 55 mph.

Two-lane motorways do not have that right-hand lane prohibition in the same way, because there is no third lane. Signs and lane closures can still send you right. Follow the signs. Do not treat the prohibition as optional because the caravan is 'only a small one'. The rule is about towing a trailer, not about the trailer MAM.

The same speeding law applies. GOV.UK says the minimum penalty is a £100 fine and 3 penalty points. A court can fine up to £1,000, or £2,500 on a motorway, and can disqualify. New drivers lose the licence at 6 points in 2 years. The towing cap being 60 mph on a motorway means a 70 mph habit is a 10 mph excess against a 60 mph limit, which is a different Sentencing Council band from 70 in a 70.

A Notice of Intended Prosecution and a section 172 notice follow a camera in the usual way: NIP within 14 days, section 172 back within 28 days. The caravan does not create a different form. It can make the excess look worse, because the national maximum was already lower.

A van that is a goods vehicle, rather than a qualifying car derived van, already has lower limits when it is not towing. When it tows, the motorway figure is 60 mph, and if the aggregate maximum laden weight is over 7.5 tonnes the single and dual figures drop further in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Those rows live on the van and HGV speed limit pages. Do not copy the car-and-caravan 50 and 60 figures onto a 3.5 tonne van without checking.

A motorhome towing a trailer uses the towing cap, 50 mph single and 60 mph dual or motorway, in the speed-limit calculator on this site. The 3.05 tonne unladen motorhome boundary is for the motorhome on its own.

The 50 and 60 mph towing caps are national GB figures from rule 124. Wales changes the restricted-road default to 20 mph, so a caravan in a Welsh town is usually a 20 mph vehicle unless a 30 mph exception is signed. Scotland uses 30 mph on ordinary built-up roads. Northern Ireland publishes its own Highway Code table on nidirect. The motorway lane rule in regulation 12 is an England and Wales motorway regulation. Scotland has MT(S)R.

Heavy goods combinations over 7.5 tonnes have lower single and dual limits in Scotland and Northern Ireland than in England and Wales. A car and caravan under those weights does not pick up the 40 mph Scottish HGV single-carriageway figure.

That a national speed limit sign means 70 mph while towing. It means the national maximum for that vehicle, which is 60 mph on dual and motorway with a trailer. That you may use the outside lane to overtake a lorry because you are only doing 60. On a three-lane motorway you may not use that lane while towing, except where signs force it. That a small trailer is exempt. The rule is towing a trailer, not towing a large trailer.

DVSA also says if the trailer starts to snake, ease off the accelerator and reduce speed gently, and do not brake harshly on a bend. That is stability advice sitting next to the legal cap. A legal 60 mph is still too fast if the van is swaying.

Highway Code rule 124 cites the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, sections 81, 86 and 89 and Schedule 6, as amended, and the Welsh restricted-road order. Rule 98 cites the Motorways Traffic (England and Wales) Regulations 1982, regulation 12, for the right-hand lane. Scotland has its own motorway regulations. GOV.UK speeding penalties, checked in 2026, name the £100 and 3 point minimum, the 14 day Notice of Intended Prosecution, the 28 day section 172 reply, and the court maxima of £1,000 and £2,500 on a motorway.

Those are the documents a court will open. The 50 and 60 mph caps are not a club recommendation. They are the national maxima for a car towing a trailer. A signed 40 mph still wins. A variable motorway sign still wins. New drivers still lose the licence at 6 points in 2 years. The towing pages under this hub cover licence, weight and mirrors. This page is the speed row only.